Square of Freedom

Film description

Peter, an international student, is gradually losing his sense of security in Poland. He joins a protest against changes to Polish cultural institutions and restrictions on personal freedoms. Meanwhile, tensions between him and his Polish girlfriend, Dorota, escalate as they disagree over their future together. In Square of Freedom, Chiang Ming-Wei creates an atmosphere charged with conflict, where personal tensions intertwine with political unrest and a growing sense of alienation becomes increasingly difficult to bear. In just twenty minutes, the director carefully builds a story of polarisation, fear and fragile bonds, drawing the viewer into a conflict that is impossible to ignore. The film is firmly rooted in the aesthetics of the Łódź Film School: restrained, formally rigorous, and attentive to every cut and shift in perspective. A montage of media images, stripped of context and infused with extreme rhetoric, heightens the protagonist’s disorientation while exposing the mechanisms of social division. Through an intimate conflict, the film offers a pointed diagnosis of the present.

The film is presented as part of the programme Subverted Gazes: Systemic Tension

Director's statement

In just 20 minutes, the film captures the struggles of foreigners in Poland, the rise of the right wing, and the media’s out-of-context editing. These themes resonate with the idea of the “double gaze of the periphery.” Working within the academic framework of the Łódź Film School, I wanted to offer a sharp social critique while showing how precisely cinematic language can express complex social issues.